Steps in the grant writing process

These step-by-step procedures provide the basic processes to follow when writing grants.

A grant writer should only follow these steps after they have fully understood the nonprofit’s organization, their mission, and specific needs. A nonprofit should only follow this list if they are organized, have a mission, and know what their specific needs are.

In these procedures, there’s not much writing, a lot of preparing to write, and some work afterward if the grant is accepted. The first half of the list is the grant writer, the second half is the nonprofit.

The List

1. Conduct research and find a foundation that meets the nonprofit’s mission and needs
2. Once a foundation is found, learn more about it through further research
3. After further research, contact the foundation for more information
4. Read, more than once, the details of the grant application and research found. Make notes of keywords repeated.
5. Gather nonprofit data for the application
6. Write the application
7. Have at least one person read the application as an editor
8. Check everything over
9. Submit
10. Do not contact the foundation. Wait to hear from them.
11. If the foundation rejects the application, call and find out why for next time
12. If the foundation accepts, thank them immediately
13. Get reporting details and restrictions (if any) on spending the money
14. Receive the money
15. Spend the money
16. Report on the money to the foundation

A grant writer is responsible for steps 1 to 8 or just before submission of the grant application. The rest of the list, from submission to final reporting, is the responsibility of the nonprofit.

A grant writer should never be involved in the receipt of the money or reporting how it was spent. I will go into why on the next post about grant writing (in two weeks).